Perils in publishing

In July, Andrew Wylie, a top literary agent, caused quite some consternation in publishing circles when he announced that his new electronic book publishing venture, Odyssey Editions, via an exclusive arrangement with Amazon, was going to put out e-books of older works from authors he represents. Trouble is, the p-book ("paper-book," old school) rights of those same works are owned by other ["conventional":] publishing houses. A for-instance scenario: Wylie represents author Ralph Ellison...